I had made a comment that "You cannot live like hell and expect heaven." on Facebook and a beloved brother wrote back:
"without grace, even people living like heaven couldn't expect heaven :) It's all about grace . . . you know it."
My answer:
Grace is a gift from Christ. But if you reject that grace by living as YOU choose and NOT as God chooses ... fact is the Bible says plenty about people who have accepted the gift of grace and then uses it as an excuse to live in sin, and non of it is good. "If you love me (says Jesus) follow my commandmenets." And in Revelations He clearly states He wants us hot or cold. Lukewarm people get spewed. Do you think He's going to spew them through heaven's gates brother? Do you really? I'm sorry, but I am reading everywhere in the Bible - old and new testament where living in the world apart from God IS FATAL FOR YOUR SOUL. Look at all the Christians who look nothing like Christ because they take God's gift of grace totally for granted.
Not at all bro. And I respect people's views on the whole "Losing Salvation" ideal, for you will know them by their fruits, indeed. However, I believe preaching in this belief gives people (who have an "easy sin nature" to begin with) is not helping the kingdom at all and is totally a mute point. First of all, the Bible does not contradict itself and yet get 2 Bible believing, well-trained Bible scholars in opposite ends of this spectrum in a room to argue the point and many people will leave believing that the bible does in fact contradict itself, because it is real easy to point certain scriptures in directions that help support both ideals. We as Christians and human beings are constantly stepping on God's toes in this way. So I choose to make it simple. This is what I read in scripture - and there's no twisting this truth:
Jesus died for our sins. Accept Christ as your Lord and Savior and your sins are forgiven. Jesus says once you have done so, you will change and stop living in and of the World ... you will not like the things you used to like and sin will disgust you. You will in fact love people, but hate sin. If you are not changing, still living the same way ... Read Moreand in the same sin, indulging in new sins and accepting the sin-nature of others ... you are not showing the fruits of the change Christ creates within those who have accepted His gift of salvation, and thus ... your soul is in danger of eternal seperation of God. Arguing the point of losing one's salvation is simply another blocked artery in the body of Christ, just like arguing over tongues and preaching mostly about "money, tithe, offerings, and alms". We are totally lacking unity in the body over small issues that are bleeding us from the inside out.
If we would just be obedient and follow His commandments, all the rest just falls into place naturally: Tongues will come should that gift be God's will for you, tithing and tending to the poor-widow-orphan as well as offerings to further God's kingdom will be something you would simply desire to do out of desire to be obedient to God's will and you would never have to lose your salvation because your salvation was never in danger to begin with!! A Christian's fruits are the effect of one's salvation, and fruits are simply the actions, words and emotions that come from a human being due to their character and way of living which changes when one truly accepts Christ as their Lord and savior.
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